In a moment when RN to BSN program enrollments are declining

"When you start breaking it down into little steps, it's like, 'OK, here's a win, here's another win,' and by the time I look up, it's like, 'Oh, my God, I'm halfway there. And I'm still OK.'"

RN to BSN student and cardiovascular ICU nurse Diana Hernandez, who's part of the Fairfax cohort of students

—down by nearly 18% in the West, 13% in the Midwest, off 18% in the South, and nearly 21% down in the Northeast, according to a 2023 report from the American Association of Colleges of Nursing—UVA’s part-time, hybrid program is growing.

That do-able format is what attracts nurses like Diana Hernandez, an INOVA cardiovascular ICU nurse who studies several times each week at the local Burke County Free Library, what she calls her “distraction-free zone.”

Since beginning UVA’s part time program in Fairfax, Hernandez discovered her love of theory, especially the work of Joyce Travelbee, who wrote extensively about finding meaning through suffering.

Said Hernandez, a mother of two who graduated from nursing school and became a nurse in 2021, struggled through COVID, night shifts, moral distress, and staffing crises, “the idea of going back to college is a lot, and sometimes it just feels like there’s no light at the end of the tunnel. But when you start breaking it down into little steps, it’s like, ‘OK, here’s a win, here’s another win,’ and by the time I look up, I’m like, ‘Oh, my God, I’m halfway there. And I’m still OK.’”

Pathways, Faces, and Places

• Learning to Lead (CNL)
• When High-Level Learning is Fun (DNP)
• A Do-Able BSN for RNs (RN to BSN)
• Daring to Dream (recruiting from high school)
• An Accelerated BSN (2-year ABSN)
• Diving into Clinicals (traditional BSN)